Adelaide and North Melbourne have met 41 times. The Crows hold the overall advantage 22 – 19.
The Crows and Kangaroos played three times in 2016.
The Roos won the Round One clash at Etihad Stadium by 10 points, but Adelaide won the last two matches by a combined total of 95 points. This included a 62-point Elimination Final win at Adelaide Oval. On that night star forward Eddie Betts booted six goals.
After kicking one goal last week, Betts needs one more to reach 500 career goals.
On Saturday, the Crows will play at Blundstone Arena for only the second time. Adelaide and North Melbourne have gone head-to-head in Hobart once before in Round 22, 2014.
Kangaroos captain Jack Ziebell was the match winner on that day, kicking four goals from 25 possessions to steer his team to a seven-point win.
The Crows have only recorded one win from six trips to Tasmania – a 10-point victory over Hawthorn in Launceston back in 2005. The 2014 loss to North was Adelaide’s first visit to Tassie since 2010.
Despite having recorded only one win, the competitive Kangaroos have been in front on the scoreboard for 51 per cent of their games this season. In comparison, the third-placed Geelong has been in front 52 per cent of time for five wins.
North Melbourne has lost three games this season by five points or fewer – to the Cats, Western Bulldogs and Fremantle.
The Crows have averaged 134.3 points this season – the best average of any AFL team after six rounds since Essendon (135.7) in 2000.
Adelaide has a scoring accuracy of 65.8 per cent – the second-best accuracy in the League.
Crows captain Taylor Walker leads the AFL for goal assists. Walker has also kicked 18 goals to be equal-seventh in the Coleman Medal race, and is the No.1 ranked player for scoreboard impact according to Champion Data.
Walker’s likely opponent this week, Robbie Tarrant, has applied 13 tackles in defensive 50m – ranked equal No.1 in the League.
Tall forward Ben Brown leads North Melbourne’s goalkicking with 17 – ranked equal-eighth in the competition. He’s also top 10 for marks on the lead (14).
The Kangaroos average 13.5 marks inside 50m per game – ranked fourth. The Crows are No.1 with an average of 18.2 marks inside attacking 50m.
Crows wingman Rory Atkins’ neat skills have been on show in the opening six rounds. Atkins ranks third in the AFL for total inside 50ms with 35. Tellingly, more of his forward 50m entries have been retained by his team (19) than that of any other player across the competition.
The Roos have kicked 15 goals from centre bounces – ranked third overall.
Damaging midfielder/forward Shaun Higgins has been involved in more scores (38) than any other North Melbourne player this season.
In-form midfielder Matt Crouch polled three Brownlow Medal votes against the club he grew up supporting when the Crows and Kangaroos met in Round 14 last season. North Melbourne ruckman Todd Goldstein got top votes in the opening round clash.
Crouch has won 67 hard-ball gets this season – ranked equal-first in the competition with Sydney skipper Josh Kennedy.
The Roos have blooded six AFL debutants this season – the equal-most of any team. The Crows are one of three teams yet to field an AFL debutant. However, recruits Curtly Hampton and Troy Menzel both made their Club debuts in Round One.
Seventeen Crows have played every game this season – ranked equal No.1 in the AFL.
